This is real fraud...<GG> Know it when ya see it..
Va. Businessman Admits Stock Fraud
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) -- A former businessman has admitted bilking
millions of dollars from clients, including spy novelist Tom Clancy,
in a stock fraud scheme.
Richard Scott, 54, of Alexandria, Va., pleaded guilty Wednesday in
Circuit Court to three counts of conspiracy to misappropriate funds
and two counts of securities fraud.
Clancy was the largest investor in Scott's stock business and lost
$1.6 million, The Sun of Baltimore reported Thursday.
Scott's plea came as a surprise ending to a five-week trial, during
which a stream of witnesses testified that Scott deceived them with
stories of 15-percent returns on their investments.
Scott and two employees at his Camp Springs business, Goldie's Coin
& Stamp Center, were charged with defrauding 25 of the investors of
about $3 million.
''Because of this I'm living a completely different life,'' said
one investor, Dominic J. Lynch, 70, a retired government worker from
Beaver, Pa. ''Of the $400,000 I invested, I got back $30,000. I live
in a little rented floor of an old house.''
The three used much of the money on speculative investments, personal
expenses and gambling trips to Atlantic City, N.J., and Las Vegas,
said the office of Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr.
''These men were not only wolves in sheep's clothing, they were liars,
'' Curran said. ''They posed as honest businessmen, then proceeded
to mishandle, mismanage and divert monies belonging to hard-working
people ranging from carpenters to doctors.''
Clancy, who lives in southern Maryland, was out of town and couldn't be reached for comment.
Scott became friends with Clancy after meeting him at a baseball game in 1993, talking Clancy and his wife into investing in the stock
enterprise, The Sun reported.
With Clancy as his marquee client, Scott quickly began to build his
investor list, getting money from people around the country. He offered them high rates of return based on ''safe, certain investments'' that he often didn't make, Curran said.
Scott could receive an 11-year prison term at his sentencing April 14.
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